


One Minute

by flibbertygigget



Series: GetBackers BDSM [4]
Category: GetBackers
Genre: Angst, Fun with the Jagan, M/M, fake death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 04:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2953046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flibbertygigget/pseuds/flibbertygigget
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite his dynamic, Ban has always been the weaker one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Minute

No one knows the truth of the curse Ban suffers under.

Most assume that his powers are something to be envyed. There have been people who have all but begged him to teach them how to use the Jagan or the curse of Asclepius. But Ban, even if he sees that they could be taught, even if he knows that it will only take time for them to learn to control their talents, always refuses. He sometimes will claim that this is to prevent the rise of someone with his powers who would possibly use them against him. The real reason is much darker.

People assume that magic, being something outside the realm of science, is unbound by any pesky rules except for the smallest of restrictions. Ban knows better. Even a child knows that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and this is as true in magic as it is in physics. For every time he invokes Asclepius, there are days of horrifying weakness. For every use of the Jagan, there are nightmares of his own.

Ban had never intended to allow anyone to know about these consequences. They were a weakness, and in his life every weakness was just another chance for him to be killed. But Ginji had gotten close, perhaps too close, and it was only so long before his sub realized that something was going on.

Ginji, bless him, had at first thought that someone had been weakening him somehow. It had taken a lot of explaining before Ginji would believe that there was no enemy, just Ban and his damned abilities and damned weaknesses. 

After that, Ginji was always checking Ban, making sure that his dom wasn't trying to hide his weakness for the sake of his sub. And that, that taking care of thing, that was supposed to be Ban's job! Ban would have liked to have been able to say that he appreciated the concern, but it was just humiliating, another strike against him being a proper dom.

"Ban-chan?" Ban carefully straightens, changing his exhausted slump against their car to a simple leaning. He can feel his legs shaking, protesting the extra weight he's putting on them, but he ruthlessly stops their movement.

"What is it, Ginji?" he says. Ginji looks at him critically, and Ban tries to act nonchalant, as though his leaning against their car for support in the middle of the night could mean anything other than one of the his bouts of weakness. At least it wasn't during a retrieval this time.

"It's cold tonight, Ban-chan.You should be inside the car." Ban doesn't realize that he has collapsed onto the ground until he looks up and sees Ginji towering over him.

"I'm fine," he snaps. Ginji gives him an admonishing look and Ban grimices. He is not fine. He is the complete opposite of fine, but that should not be Ginji's concern. That wasn't the way it worked, or at least it wasn't supposed to be.

"It's all right, Ban-chan," Ginji says, and Ban looks down so he doesn't have to believe him. Ban's whole body is shaking now, protesting desperately against sitting up. Ban closes his eyes, willing his body to obey him for once. He doesn't open them until he feels a warm body curl up against him and lay its head on his shoulder.

"Get back in the car." The words sound softer than he wants them to, weaker, as though even the strength of his voice is abandoning him.

"I'm sorry, Ban-chan," Ginji says, voice slightly muffled by Ban's shirt. "You shouldn't have to protect me."

"Don't be an idiot. This isn't because of that." Even now Ban feels terrified to even think of it. Ginji had almost died on their last retrieval job, and it had only been the curse of Asclepius and some gratuitous use of the Jagan that had allowed them both to escape with their lives.

"But it is, Ban-chan. If I hadn't fallen for their trap, you wouldn't have had to use your curse to get us out there, and you only would have had to use your Jagan once."

"If it hadn't been that, it would have been something else," Ban says. "Don't worry about me, Ginji. I'm used to it." That, at least, is true. Ban isn't fine, it was never fine, but he knows how to handle it. How to handle it with a concerned sub, though...

"But you're always worrying about me, even when you know that I'm going to be all right," Ginji protests.

"That's because it's my job, idiot. Besides, as capable as you are, you're not in Mugenjou anymore. You can get hurt more easily now." And isn't that just a terrifying piece of information.

"But I don't want you hurting either, Ban-chan," Ginji says. 

"This isn't like that. I'll recover soon enough." Ginji just snuggled closer.

"I know, Ban-chan, but that doesn't mean that you're fine now. Just because you're used to it and know how long it'll last doesn't make it any easier to see you out here, especially when it's my fault." Ban doesn't bother to correct Ginji this time. If his sub wants to blame himself for something completely out of his control, there isn't much Ban can do to stop him. "Come back inside the car, Ban-chan." Ban shakes his head. 

"It's fine, Ginji," he says.

"All right, then I'll stay out here with you." Ban opens his mouth to protest, but he can feel Ginji already falling asleep. Smiling slightly, he wraps a weak arm around his sub and looks up at the stars.


End file.
